This invention pertains to improvements brought to a heating device equipped with an absorption heat pump.
In some devices for heating a liquid, like water for instance, and especially for heating buildings and producing hygienic hot water, facilities which include at least one solid, liquid and/or gaseous fuel burner that releases "vapors" at a fairly high temperatures, we sometimes use an absorption heat pump in order to improve the thermal yield of the heating.
Usually, in such a case, the burner is used to heat the absorption solution that was used in the absorption cycle of the heat pump so as to separate the constituents of the solution and regenerate the absorption liquid that was used in the cycle.
At the vapor/absorption solution heat exchange level, the yield is mediocre since, in view of conditions underlying the thermal exchange, the vapors leave the facility at a usually high temperature which exceeds 200 degrees C which conveys to the chimney vast amounts of energy that are wasted.
In most instances this unfavorable situation is tolerated because at the level of the heat pump cycle we recover in the ambient environment at the level of the evaporate cycle significantly move energy than we allowed to escape through the chimney, so that the overall yield for the facility seems fairly decent. However, this is only the case if operating conditions for the evaporator are satisfactory, or usually if the "cold source" level, in which the heat is "pumped" that is released to the facility is sufficiently high. This well-known phenomenon encourages the installers to set up in parallel upon the heating facility a conventional boiler which will heat directly the liquid to be heated when the operating conditions of the cold source become unfavorable (usually in cold weather and especially if the evaporator borrows its heat from the ambient air).
In order to cut down the heat losses from the chimney, the suggestion was also made to place heat recovery exchangers on the vapor circuit, said recovering exchangers will be in a thermal exchange mode with the liquid to be heated. However, practically speaking, these exchangers are not satisfactory, basically for the following two reasons.
(1) The additional cost for installation that their use entails is not economically sound; PA0 (2) setting-up exchange circuits, which requires long ducts means so that we lose most of the heat that we tried to recover anew through line losses in those ducts.
In the prior patent application No. 82 19510 which was filed on Nov. 22, 1982 by the same applicant, we recommended a perfected facility which made it possible to resolve some of the displayed difficulties.
In this regard, in the prior application, the exchanger for a heat pump boiler includes two series installed levels, the first acting as a boiler for the purpose of raising that absorbing solution to a proper temperature, the second acting as a recuperator for the purpose of reheating the heating liquid in the vicinity of its input into the facility. Both exchangers are originally comprised of two series placed twin barrels, the lower barrel of the two twin barrels acting as an output passage for the vapor that is generated inside the combustion chamber of the facility. Furthermore, a branching is anticipated at the level of the first exchanger where the solution to be regenerated leaves that exchanger after being heated, this branching leading into a separator flask inside which the separation of the volatile enhanced solution is performed from the weakened, heavier solution for use of the two separated solutions in the absorbing cycle of the facility.